Peru’s president is reaching the first anniversary of his mandate without credibility and with serious doubts as to whether he will be able to finish his term. The people who elevated him to the government have lost faith in him
This Thursday, Pedro Castillo will fulfill a one-year mandate as Peru’s president. You could say he lasted a year, but no one in the Andean country dares to sign that the city teacher elected by just 44,000 more votes than his rival, Keiko Fujimori, is ending the term of office for which he was elected. Castillo knew full well that the path to rule was full of obstacles and many thorns. Not surprisingly, recent history shows that Peru has had five heads of government in the past six years. They are not as many as the earthquakes that this area in the ring of fire in the Pacific is experiencing, nor do they reach the figures of 60 ministers that Castillo changed in 11 months of government.
Quite a record. “I appealed to the ministers of state and said in advance: ‘minister who does not work, must go home,'” says Castillo. The last to fall and to unleash a new crisis that seriously affects the credibility of the executive is the head of the Interior, Mariano González, the sixth to hold this portfolio, who has been in office for barely a few weeks.
González got his resignation through social networks, a practice Castillo has maintained when it comes to accepting resignations or firing members of his cabinet. But González left and sent a barrage of fire at the president. “I have no doubt that Mr. Castillo is guilty of corruption,” adding that the president was obstructing justice. “With or without congress, this man has to go,” said the former minister, for whom his departure from government marks the beginning of the end for his former boss.
At the same time, the Ombudsman’s office stated that “the President’s will to fight corruption has once again been questioned”. Castillo and his entire team have dropped that the Secretary of the Interior’s resignation is due to his lack of commitment to the government. They accuse him of hardly visiting the cabinet, but also threaten him with filing complaints because he has insulted not only the president, but also the entire government body.
Coincidentally, González had just formed an elite squad to investigate and capture justice fugitives very close to the president, including his sister-in-law, a businessman, and two cousins of Castillo, one of them a former attorney general. the presidency and former Minister of Transport and Communications, who they say was the government with the largest budget.
These alleged corruption cases have prompted the prosecution to withdraw the January 1 stipulation suspending the president’s pre-trial investigation until the end of his term in office. At the same time, the country’s public prosecutor announced that a preliminary investigation had begun against Pedro Castillo for an alleged crime against human trafficking by the public administration and that it was targeting the purchase of biodiesel for the benefit of the company Heaven Petroleum Operators. SA
Also under investigation for awarding public works in exchange for bribes, Pedro Castillo has had to overcome a number of impeachment attempts by his opponents in Congress, under Article 113 of the Constitution, which allows the president to be replaced because of his “moral incapacity” . or physically. The first was raised four months after he came to power and the second three months later. Both were defeated, taking advantage of the fact that the opposition groups did not collect the necessary signatures.
Castillo has lost his credibility. Peru would change. The first poor president of this country once promised everything in his inaugural address. Next Thursday, when independence is also being celebrated, many are expecting explanations and more transparency in their words. “A government of the people has come to rule with the people and for the people,” he said that day, also pointing out that “the pride and pain of deep Peru runs through my veins.” “I won’t disappoint you,” he said.
The fact is that today six out of ten people, 60% of Peruvians, believe that inequality between rich and poor has increased. That the pandemic is very much to blame for this, but also that there is very unequal access to justice, health care, education and work. Castillo is also accused of being clumsy and having many limitations to hold such an important position.
He has had four chiefs of staff: Guido Bellido, Mirtha Vázquez, Héctor Valer and Aníbal Torres. Its prime ministers were appointed on July 29, 2021. Three months later it became seven. On February 1, he appointed a new cabinet, but it failed to get a confidence vote in Congress and was dissolved after six days. Of course, there are hardly any mobilizations that force us to think about the collapse of Castillo.
Source: La Verdad
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